Many different headset devices have been used to position and stabilize an audio transducer adjacent to a wearer's ear. The audio transducer or speaker is positioned adjacent to a wearer's ear in order to deliver audio communications to the wearer. Such devices are used for delivering radio, stereo, two-way and telephonic type communications to a wearer. In headsets used for telephonic or similar type communications, a microphone is also positioned in the vicinity of the wearer's mouth, usually by a tubular extension, voice tube or boom, for receiving the wearer's voice and transmitting it over a telecommunications line.
A common headset design for holding an audio speaker adjacent to a wearer's ear is the headband style headset which fits over the wearer's head and positions the audio transducer in front of the wearer's ear canal. This style headset normally includes a stiff metal band or other rigid type support which is weighted or otherwise balanced on the side opposite to the side holding the audio speaker to stabilize the headset on the wearer's head. If two audio speakers are included in a headband style headset, one on each side, then no weighting or balancing is necessary. Such a headset is typically heavy, mechanically complicated and for some wearer's, wearing a headband style headset for long periods of time is uncomfortable.
Conventional earbud concha style headsets position the audio transducer inside the lower concha of the ear, between the tragus and the anti-tragus. However, different ear shapes and sizes make it difficult for a single design to both fit a wearer's ear correctly and to stabilize the headset. Typically, the receiver will be held in place by a headband, as described above, or other mechanical devices or stabilizers.
An ear hook is an example of such a mechanical stabilizer which has been used to stabilize an audio transducer within or on a wearer's ear. An ear hook is a large semicircular component that fits around the top of the wearer's ear between the helix of the ear and the side of the wearer's head. The audio transducer is then attached to the body of the ear hook and held in the lower concha in front of the ear canal. The ear hook and certain configurations of headbands suffer from the disadvantage that they will interfere with the arms of the wearer's eyeglasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,587 to Kobayashi teaches an intra-concha type electroacoustic transducer for use with audio devices. A drawing of the device of Kobayashi, positioned within a wearer's ear, is illustrated in FIG. 1. In the device taught by Kobayashi, an electroacoustic transducer or speaker 10 positioned to oppose an entrance portion of the external auditory meatus YB of the wearer's ear. An auxiliary support 13 extends away from a housing holding the transducer 10 in a direction opposite to the entrance portion of the external auditory meatus YB. This auxiliary support 13 is hollow, includes a flexible cushion 14 and is of a size which is longer than the distance between the transducer 10 and the conchal wall. When positioned in the wearer's ear, the speaker 10 is positioned between the tragus YD and the antitragus YE. The auxiliary support 13 is then squeezed, bent or flexed to fit between the transducer 10 and the innerwall portion of the antihelix, or conchal wall, of the wearer's ear. The flexible cushion 14 of the auxiliary support 13 will rest up against the conchal wall of the wearer's ear as the auxiliary support 13 tries to expand to its full length, thereby extending pressure against both the conchal wall and the transducer 10. The housing and the transducer 10 are thereby held in position within the wearer's ear between the tragus YD and the antitragus YE.
Gabriele Bungardt et al. teach a concha headset stabilizer in PCT Application No. PCT/US95/05260 which was published on Nov. 9, 1995 as International Publication No. WO 95/30320. This concha headset stabilizer is illustrated in FIG. 2. The stabilizer includes a receiver or transducer attachment 11, a flexible and resilient support member 17 and a concha stabilizer pad 21. The transducer attachment 11 is a foam ear cushion that engages and covers the speaker 27 within the receiver. The receiver shown in FIG. 2 also includes a voice tube 30. The flexible and resilient support member 17 extends upward from the transducer attachment. The concha stabilizer pad 21 is positioned at the end of the flexible and resilient support member 17. The stabilizer support 17 is again of a size which is longer than the distance between the transducer 27 and the conchal wall of the wearer's ear.
When worn, the transducer attachment 11 and the speaker 27 are positioned into the lower concha of the wearer's ear, fitting into the intertragic notch, between the tragus and the antitragus. The stabilizer support, including the flexible and resilient support member 17 and the concha stabilizer pad 21, is then positioned to be in contact within the upper concha of the wearer's ear, below the antihelix. To achieve this position, the wearer flexes or bends the stabilizer support in order to fit the stabilizer support between the transducer attachment 11 and the conchal wall. The stabilizer pad 21 is positioned to rest up against the conchal wall, thereby extending pressure against both the conchal wall and the audio transducer 27, as it tries to resiliently return to its full length. In this manner, the stabilizer support provides pressure between the conchal wall and the receiver attachment in the lower concha, and thereby holds the speaker 27 within the wearer's ear.
For illustration purposes and to aid in the understanding of the placement of the respective devices of the prior art and the present invention, a typical human ear is illustrated in FIG. 3. The outer ear, or pinna is an irregularly concave cartilaginous member comprised of a number of eminences and depressions which give each ear a distinct shape and form. The helix 29 is the curved outer rim of the ear. Below the helix 29 is the antihelix 45. The antihelix 45 is a curved prominence which describes a curve around the concha, a deep cavity containing the entry to the ear canal 33. The concha is divided into two parts, the upper concha 43 and the lower concha 41, by the crux of the helix 31 which curves around the outside of the ear, and extends inwards at about the vertical midpoint of the ear. The upper concha 43 lies above the crux of the helix 31 and below the antihelix 45. The lower concha 41 lies below the crux of the helix 31 and surrounds the entry to the ear canal 33. A conchal wall 47 separates the concha from the antihelix 45. In front of the lower concha 41 and projecting backwards from the front of the ear is the tragus 35, a small semicircular prominence. Opposite the tragus 35 and separated from it by the deep curvature of the intertragic notch 37 is the antitragus 39. The intertragic notch 37 is formed between the tragus 35 and the antitragus 39.
What is needed is a comfortable mechanical support apparatus which supports an audio transducer positioned within the intertragic notch of the wearer's ear. What is further needed is comfortable rigid support apparatus which supports an audio transducer positioned within the intertragic notch of the wearer's ear and enhances the acoustic qualities of the audio transducer.